Despite violence, Wayland Baptist won't cut classes in Kenya

Published: Wednesday, January 09, 2008

MARLENA HARTZ

PLAINVIEW - Wayland Baptist University officials announced Tuesday that classes at their satellite campus in Kenya will begin Jan. 14 as scheduled, despite political warfare in the country that erupted last month, leaving hundreds dead.

Wayland opened a campus near Limuru, Kenya, in partnership with the Baptist Theological College in 1999. The campus primarily offers religious training to Kenyans.

"I believe it's essential that we ... respond to human need. (Ken-yans) have asked for our aid," said Rick Shaw, director of the Wayland project in Kenya.

Shaw was hired in November to lead the project. The professor and minister will make his first trip to the war-torn country Friday. His wife and children will stay behind in Plainview for the time being, he said.

"There is a strong sense of need there for aid, for food and clean water and medicine," said Shaw, who plans to distribute basic supplies, some carried from Texas, in the country.

Shaw will join Don Ashley, an associate professor of religion, in Kenya. Ashley and his family were in the country when a presidential election sparked riots and tribal warfare. More than 600 people have died in the conflict, news agencies have reported.

Violence in Kenya ebbed last weekend and transportation lines have reopened, but it's still difficult to get essential supplies, including fuel, reports from Ashley and Baptist Theological College officials indicate.

The college closed its doors to additional refugees this week over uncertainty supplies would last, Wayland officials said.

"The way forward is, I believe, through education," Shaw said.

Students from 24 different tribes study at the Wayland campus near Limuru. They can earn associate's and bachelor's degrees in various fields from the accredited program.

"It's truly an example of cooperation and peace-making," the minister said.

Many students there have family members who were slain in the recent conflict, tempering Shaw's eagerness to begin his ministry in Kenya with unease.

"There is a lot anxiety. I know I will encounter a lot of suffering. That is never easy to deal with," he said.